How to Make a Large Daffodil out of Clay

This technique would work with any clay after a bit of practice. The clay I have used here is one of my favourites for modelling with, its Earthstone Special 160 from Valentine Clays.

Fired to 1060c (Cone 04).

What you will need:

1. Clay
2. Paint brush or similar
3. OPTIONAL: Textured stamp

Making the Petals

1. Take about this much clay and roll it into a ball:

2. Roll the clay to make a pointy sausage:

3.  Then flatten in the palm of your hand as in the image below:

4.  Then if using a textured use it to create the pattern by patting gently around the edges:

Make 5.  Below shows using the texture and just using my palms:

Making the Center

1. Grab another ball of clay about this size, slightly bigger than petal balls.

2. Roll and flatten to make the shape below:

3.Using a paintbrush end or something similar use it to create the center by wiggling it:

4.Using the end of the paintbrush drag it out to create the lines below:

Putting together

1. Add 5 petals around the center.  You can overlap or do them aligned like mine below:

2. Make the stem by turning over and smoothing petals to create this shape and pocking something inside stem if daffodil is to be mounted on wire.

3. Place on a cardboard tube while you create 6 little stamens by rolling clay and grouping together:

4.  Using something like a cocktail stick to push into center:

Set a side to dry.